


Say Anything

by MidnightValkyrie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dramione Romcom Fest, F/M, Manips and Fic, Say Anything, dhr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27061192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightValkyrie/pseuds/MidnightValkyrie
Summary: To know Draco Malfoy is to love him. Hermione Granger is about to know Draco Malfoy.Written and created for the Dramione RomCom Fest, based on Say Anything.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 28
Kudos: 60
Collections: Dramione RomCom Fest





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DramioneRomComFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DramioneRomComFest) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> [Say Anything (1989)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098258/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0)
> 
> Note: Captions beneath images come directly from the film.


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m so glad we did this.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you shaking?”

“No.”

“You’re shaking.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You’re cold!”  
  
“I don’t think I am.”

“Then why are you shaking?”

“I don’t know, I think I’m happy.”


	4. Chapter 4




	5. Chapter 5

“She broke up with me. What do I do? How can I get her back?”


	6. Chapter 6

“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”


	7. Chapter 7

Hermione rolled onto her side and tucked her face against the pillow. It wasn’t even sunset yet and she was already in bed. Harry had just left her parent’s vacation home an hour ago, where she’d been living the past two months.

The long, circular conversation turned to an argument that left her exhausted and emotionally aching. The pain from her recent split had yet to begin to heal. Nevermind that she picked at it constantly, never allowing the raw edges to start mending. She’d examined and reexamined where exactly things had gone so catastrophically wrong and how she hadn’t seen it coming.

It’d been before the Ministry had rolled out their Marriage Law. She sometimes wondered if it didn’t harken back to her time at Hogwarts when she’d so harshly brushed off Cormac McLaggen after he’d ignored the first fifteen times she’d tried to let him down easily. He’d nipped at her heels, sniffing after her like a determined hound until he’d finally graduated, never once taking the hint no matter how nasty she got with him. She’d found out later that his family had married him off within a month of graduation.

He’d been the Unspeakable, after all, that had overseen the matching process; it’d been his magic that made the decisions. Could there have been a subconscious influence at play? Or had he somehow deliberately paired her with Draco Malfoy?

Azkaban wasn’t what stayed her hand from going and interrogating the man within an inch of his life. It’d been the thought of what her friends and parents would have gone through if she’d been arrested that had kept her from seeking out the information she’d burned for. That which had grown into an obsession in the back of her mind for a while. 

Although if she were frank with herself, it was just something to latch onto in order to put her heartbreak out of her mind as much as she could. It was in the instances of quiet, in the in-betweens where he and they slipped into her thoughts. In the shower with the water pattering against the tiles, in the moments right before sleep when everything was still and quiet, but especially during the time that had become theirs over the next year.

Sleep was often hard to come by for them both. Oftentimes she’d awake in the night to find him outside on the front porch as he looked over the garden and into the forest, scanning the scenery between reading each line from his book. Now when she awoke, it was still a habit in her drowsy, mostly asleep state to seek him out where her brain expected him to be. When she didn’t find him there she would sink into one of the old, wooden chairs and think about the last several months.

Their relationship hadn’t started off in the best of ways. He’d been cold and standoffish, obviously wanting little to do with her but complying with the signing of the papers at the matching office. What they hadn’t been expecting was a charm to be cast on them. A measure of protection, to ensure the safety of both parties. If someone caused damage to one person in retribution, they would both suffer equally. She suspected the officials gave it a bit extra strength when Lucius glared darkly at them during their explanation. 

The other unexpected factor was they were to leave their jobs for a year and live together, to learn to get along and come to terms with the edict. When it’d come time to select a residence, Draco spoke up for the first time to announce they’d be staying at her house, much to her surprise and Lucius’s dismay. He’d shown up that evening with a suitcase and set himself up in the spare bedroom.

The first month had been filled with spats and the occasional screaming match where her hand burned to have the vine wand clasped in it, but they settled out into a routine and learned to adapt. He made her breakfast one morning after a set of night terrors and that’d begun their slide down the slippery slope. Breakfast turned to conversation, which over time led to the discovery of mutual interests, which led to activities and outings, which turned to dates. Dates that ended with kisses, sleepless nights where he first showed his affection in the dim of the front porch swing, and finally the ending of him sleeping in the guest room.

It’d been going so well. Too well, she realized later. Some things she still did the Muggle way, but Draco had yet to comment. He’d watch her as she manually washed dishes or scrubbed the counters down, but held his tongue. She didn’t own a telly or much of any Muggle technology, preferring books, music, plays, and the opera for entertainment. There were still some things she enjoyed, like the cinema that played 80’s films on Wednesday nights for cheap in the summers, the Notting Hill Carnival, and occasionally popping by an Internet Cafe to make an online purchase or two. He’d accompanied her on those outings, but his discomfort had been palpable no matter what she did to lessen it.

The cracking point had been when she’d come home in excitement with tickets to see her favorite film, a gift from her mother along with a snack voucher. Later she suspected he’d gotten in a fight with his parents or Pansy because Draco didn’t drink in the middle of the day for no reason. He’d been two fingers into a glass of whiskey and pink-cheeked when she’d announced the plans for their next date. It’d been the spark in an already explosive atmosphere. 

_ “When are you going to give up this Muggle nonsense? You’re a witch, after all, and there’s plenty of things to keep you occupied in our world.” _

It’d been the start of the worst fight they’d ever had in the history of them. They’d ended when the screaming stopped and she’d magically flung some clothes and other goods into a bag and Apparated away with tears streaming down her cheeks after leaving her ring on the nightstand. That’d been a month and a half ago. She hadn’t seen him since. She’d called her parents to let them know where she was and a vague reason why. 

Harry had been the first person she’d seen since then when he’d shown up that day to try to talk reason into her since he couldn’t maim Malfoy instead. She’d wanted nothing to do with it and made it quite clear. Eventually, he gave up and they ate the pizza he’d brought over in strained silence while they watched the telly together. Afterwards, he promised to come back and hugged her goodbye. She’d opted for a lie down after in her exhaustion.

She shifted again and contemplated reinventing the softening charm she’d used on the mattress that first night. It was clearly wearing off when it should have held for several more weeks. It could have been chalked up to her state of being at the time but she ignored that idea. 

Out of the silence wafted a faint noise that had her freezing in place and straining to hear. Moments later it got louder and she was able to discern the voice of Peter Gabriel as it drifted in the open bedroom window. There were no neighbors to produce noise, which could only mean one thing.

Her heart picked up, beating so loudly it almost overcame the volume of the old boombox that was likely turned all the way up by now. She’d recognize the sound of her father’s ancient stereo anywhere. Carefully, she pulled herself to her feet, crept to the window, and peeked around the curtain. Voldemort dancing the tango would’ve been a less surprising scene than the one that awaited her.

Draco Malfoy stood in front of a steel blue 1977 Malibu while holding a boombox over his head. She blinked a few times, but the trench coat, white tee, black trackies, and white and red high top sneakers didn’t fade into the expensive, fussy robes he favored. He met her eyes throughout the song and only when it began to fade was she able to pull herself away and head downstairs to the front porch where he stood waiting.

Before she could ask anything, he spoke. “I know I’ve no right to, but I’m requesting a favor.”

She leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms loosely under her breasts in a protective manner before nodding for him to continue. Hermione stared into gray eyes that’d haunted her dreams since she’d gotten there.

“I’m asking for you to listen to me entirely before you say anything.” He waited until she nodded again before continuing. “First, I want to apologize to you. I never should’ve said what I did. You shouldn’t have to give anything up and I was wrong in asking you to do so. You’ve asked nothing of me this whole time and it was grossly unfair for me to make any such demands. This is the life and ways you grew up knowing and it’s hypocritical of me to expect you to conform to the ways I’ve known for the entirety of my life. I’m sorry for everything and I’m here to ask your forgiveness.”

The air rushed from her lungs as she bit down on her bottom lip. Her eyes drifted across the garden before landing back on him. “So what happens the next time you get in a fight with your parents or whatever happened before I got home, and decide you’ve had enough of my  _ Muggle Nonsense _ again?”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I’ve already begun working on that. When you didn’t come back and I saw you’d left your ring, I did a lot of thinking and realized that I wasn’t just marrying part of you, but all of you, which has been shaped by your past. I decided that if you could acclimate to a whole new world, then there was no reason I couldn’t either. Potter and your parents have been explaining the Muggle world more to me and exposing me to new things, where I’ve put in an effort to understand and enjoy them. Before, I didn’t, and I should have. I’d like to continue learning about your world, except I want to learn about it from, and with you. Will you please come back home?” He shifted his weight and slid his hands in his pockets.

Hermione watched him for five heartbeats. Draco never apologized. Never fidgeted. Yet here he was doing both while showing her that he’d been proactive in correcting the problem, that he hadn’t come here empty-handed.

“Yes.”

He moved until they were nearly touching, staring at her as he slowly leant down. When she didn’t move he pressed his lips to hers and a large, warm hand sliding to rest in the dip of her waist. She leaned into him, gripping his trenchcoat and after the kiss ended, he slid his arms fully around her and clung to her, much like she did to him.

“Want to go for a ride? I did learn how to drive this thing, after all.”

Her lips quirked up in a grin. “Why not.” She locked the door with magic and let him lead her to the car, their hands linked together. He helped her in and shut the door before climbing in the driver’s seat.

“You can transfigure your clothes back, you know. I imagine you’re not very comfortable in that outfit.” The seatbelt clicked into place and she turned toward him.

“I didn’t transfigure anything. When you didn’t come back home the next evening, I took one of the tickets and went to see your favorite film. I figured there was no time like the present to enact my plan.” He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life.

“Did you like it?” She’d been uncertain when her mother handed the date night kit over whether he’d even make it through the entire thing.

“It’d been better if you’d been there to share it with me.” He said as he put the car into reverse, turned his head, and turned the car around to head back down the winding driveway. It felt as if he’d been driving forever rather than within the past couple of months.

“How did you even find all this stuff?” Her eyes drifted across the tennis shoes on his feet. Had he even worn trainers before this? Probably not.

“Your mother took me to what she called thrift stores.” The look on his face told her all she needed to know about his feelings on those establishments and she threw her head back in laughter as she imagined him drifting through one in the wake of her mum. “Then when we didn’t find anything suitable she taught me to use the internet.

They rode around for a while before she showed him a good place to park. Then, as part of his education on Muggle pastimes, she showed him the best usage of the backseat in the glow of the dashboard lights. 


	8. Chapter 8




	9. Chapter 9

“Nobody really thinks this it will work do they?”

“No, but you just described every great success story.”


End file.
